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Frenchman Mike Di Meglio survived the frantic opening laps of the 125cc motorcycling race at Phillip Island yesterday to claim victory and his maiden world championship.
Joyous scenes in pit lane followed Di Meglio’s crowning moment, which comes six years after he joined the sport as a 15-year-old.
The 20-year-old Derbi racer was beaten off the pole but took control of the race by the second lap to romp away to a 10.25-second victory.
Di Meglio becomes the second French rider to win the 125cc world championship following Arnaud Vincent’s triumph in 2002 and he is the youngest-ever French moto world champion.
“When I took the flag, I didn´t know if I had the title or not – it´s only when a fan came to give me the tricolore flag that I realized I won it - I saw the World Champion sign on the giant screens and I was blown away,´ said the new king of the lower cylinder category. `It´s really a great feeling to become World Champion. We managed it because we did a great job as a team, with the staff and Derbi.”
“What made the difference this year is probably all the people around me, my team, my fiancée, all the people who are helping. I feel comfortable and at ease whenever I get to a track and outside the races I really took the time to relax and spend some time at home.”
The race victory moved Di Meglio to 237 points with two rounds of this year’s championship remaining.
His closest challenger Simone Corsi of Italy had to finish in the top-six on Sunday to keep the championship race alive heading into the Malaysian race in two weeks but was off the pace throughout and finished ninth, leaving him 54 points behind.
